


Champion

by LinaBenliven



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Champion Shiro (Voltron), Established Matt Holt/Shiro, Kerberos Mission, M/M, Post-Kerberos Mission, Protective Shiro (Voltron), Rebel Matt Holt, Reunions, Shiro (Voltron)-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-27 08:06:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16214924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinaBenliven/pseuds/LinaBenliven
Summary: Takashi Shirogane had prepared well in advance for every single possible outcome or problem that could possible crop up on the Kerberos mission.Well, everything except for alien abduction.





	Champion

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the now cancelled This Is A Spaceship Zine

Takashi Shirogane knew the Kerberos mission was going to be hard. And as such, he had thought that he was prepared for anything that could wrong. Engines failing weren’t a problem he had been worried about because he knew that Commander Holt and his son would be able to fix it. He hadn’t even been worried about spending that amount of time with the two males. He had always enjoyed Commander Holt’s company, and Matt was his boyfriend, so he hadn’t been worried about spending a lengthy mission with him in a cramped spaceship. No, Takashi Shirogane had prepared well in advance for every single possible outcome or problem.

Everything except for alien abduction.

It had never crossed his mind that alien abduction could ever be a problem. Matt had always told him that there were other life forms out there, but he had always laughed it off. He had never wanted to take it seriously purely out of his own fear of not knowing what was truly out there. The universe was vast and to think that the only sustained life was on Earth was foolish. Once the pair of them had met Keith however, Matt had focused more on telling Keith his alien conspiracies instead. Not that Shiro had minded, it was nice seeing the pair of them get on like a house on fire, even if he had had to bail them out of trouble on no less than seventeen different occasions. But, as he sat handcuffed in a cell with both Holts, Shiro realised he would much rather be back on Earth.

Both Holts were currently unconscious and he had tried waking them up but whatever they had knocked them out with was making it more difficult than it should be. He sighed and moved back to Matt’s side, his hands were tightly chained together but he knew there had to be something he could do to try and help his boyfriend regardless. He moved both hands down, noting that there was very little chain between the handcuffs, clearly these aliens didn’t want him being able to move. Shiro mumbled something akin to their captors being pricks and tried to brush Matt’s fringe out of the way so that he could check him for head wounds. He relaxed a little when he saw no visible injuries and instead moved to lay down with the auburn-haired male.

Shiro didn’t like being the only one awake but there wasn’t much he could do about that in his current situation. He moved his hands to find Matt’s and held it the best he could around the handcuffs. It offers little relief to him but it helps ground him. From where he was laid he could see a window on the ceiling and from the look of the constellations they were still in Earth’s solar system.

Now, Shiro doubted that these Aliens were friendly but the fact that there were still close to home gave him hope that if he could just figure a way out of the cell then they could go back home. Or at least contact the Galaxy Garrison and alert them to their situation using the alien technology. He could do something rather than waiting for his captors to make the first move. He hated feeling useless, so he held onto the sliver of hope that he had that he could do something.

He held tight onto that sliver of hope until he heard an announcement play over the ships speakers. He had no clue what was being said or what the flashing purple lights meant in the corridor outside of the cell. It was only once he saw the stars in the window above speed out of focus that he realised what was happening.

The ship was speeding up.

The ship was speeding up into what he assumed was lightspeed from the blurring of the stars and planets and Shiro feels the pit of dread in his stomach begin to form. Lightspeed meant that they could travel anywhere in the vastness of the universe. It meant that Shiro could very well not return home. It meant that he would never see Keith again. It meant that Matt and Commander Holt would never see Coleen and Katie again.

_It meant they truly were at these alien’s mercy._

It’s as that thought crosses Shiro’s mind that he turns and rests his head against Matt’s shoulder. He didn’t want to be at the mercy of these aliens. All he had wanted to do was explore the universe and return home. He took a shaky breath to compose himself and he sat up, still holding Matt’s hand, making a silent vow to himself.

A vow that these aliens wouldn’t know just who or what they were messing with. A vow that he would fight and protect the Holts. A vow that they would all return to Earth again. A vow that he would do whatever was necessary to survive. He could not let them win.

_He would not let them win._

~*~*~

The air in the arena was filled with electric. Shiro could feel it as they were marched to the entrance were one of them was going to have to fight to the death. The crowd of their captors, (the Galra as they had been told by other prisoners) begging for blood. Begging to watch the prisoners be torn apart just so they could watch their blood fall to floor like the hundreds before them.

Shiro had heard the stories from the others. He had seen the fear in their eyes as they told him about prisoner after prisoner that had been sent to the ring, only to never return. And when Matt had asked how they were certain they had died in the ring, one of them scoffed at his ignorance before telling them the Galran motto.

_Victory or death._

Shiro had held Matt as they slept that night, both of them terrified of what fate would befall them in the arena. Matt had been more open with his fear. Crying into the shoulder of his boyfriend, his whimpers only muffled by the clothing they had been forced to wear. Shiro had stayed quiet, staring at the ceiling of the cell as he thought about what the vow he had made when they had first been captured.

And it was that that crossed his mind when the Galra sentry pointed at Matt as yet another prisoner fell. He had failed to protect Commander Holt as the Galra had dragged him off to a work camp and something deep within him ached at the thought of losing Matt to the barbaric nature of the arena. Matt deserved better. He deserved a better death, a natural one.

He doesn’t care that they had sworn off affection while in the captivity, he reaches over and squeezes his boyfriend’s hands when he sees him shaking. Matt wasn’t a fighter. He was skinny and geeky. He would not survive the arena. Shiro would have a better chance of survival, and the instant that thought crosses his mind; he knows what he needs to do.

“I’ll get you out of it.” He whispers as he kisses his hand before turning to face the Galran sentry. Before Matt has a chance to argue with him, or tell him that he was being reckless, he pushes Matt to the ground and charges the sentry to steal its gun.

The minute the other sentry sees Matt gripping his knee and Shiro with the sentry gun, Shiro knows that his plan worked. There’s some garbled shouts of Galran that Shiro understands is them taking Matt to the medic bay. What that entailed he wasn’t entirely sure of but it had to be better than Matt being made to fight in the arena. At least he wouldn’t die in the medic bay.

Shiro on the other hand, was pushed headfirst into the arena. The roar of the crowd at seeing a new challenger shook the ground and Shiro took a deep breath. He wasn’t scared, he had taken those self-defence classes with Keith for a reason and now he was thankful that he would get a chance to use them. Even if it was against an opponent that towered over him.

Anything was better than Matt being made to fight a battle that he couldn’t win. Shiro was more than willing to fight for the safety of the man he loved, and he already knew that he would fight as many times as it took to see him again.

~*~*~

Shiro honestly hadn’t expected to see Matt again. It had been over a year and a half since their initial capture and then having found no leads while being a Paladin of Voltron had meant that he had been starting to give up hope. There had been nothing for so long and while he had easily comforted Katie and made sure that she knew that Matt would come home, he hadn’t let her know that he didn’t feel he would. It would break her heart and acknowledging that Matt was probably dead would hurt himself too much. So, he had just put it to the back of his mind.

But now. Now Matt was standing in front of him, the other paladins watching him and it took every ounce of his will not to run and hug Matt hard. His legs were shaking and when he hears Coran telling the other Paladins to give them some space, he’s thankful. He didn’t want to cry in front of his teammates.

“Matt….” He whispers once the others have gone back inside the Castle-ship.  His voice doesn’t sound like his. It sounds broken and scared, as though if he said it louder that Matt would vanish. But, he had seen how Katie had hugged him, Matt was real. He wasn’t a figment of his imagination. Then why was Shiro scared?

“Shiro.” Matt says his voice in that soft tone of his before running and wrapping his arms tight around Shiro. The force of the hug crashes them both into the ground and the Black Paladin has never been more thankful for his armour then he is when he hits the hard ground. “I thought I’d lost you.” The smaller male whispers as he hides his face into Shiro’s shoulder once again. Shiro doesn’t stop him, he just wraps his arms around the male’s lower back.

“You’re not the only one.” He mumbles as he rests his head against his. He didn’t know what else to say to Matt, just letting the words hang in the air as he tried to figure out how to tell Matt that he had never stopped looking for him. All the words he wanted to say didn’t seem to be enough or didn’t convey just how hard he had looked for his boyfriend.

“How did you escape?” Matt is the first to break the silence and Shiro is so thankful for it. He had no clue how to bring up the question of escape, but Matt had always known how to ask the difficult questions. He wasn’t scared to ask them, and that was something that Shiro loved about him.

“I should be asking you the same question.” He says it with a laugh, hoping that he would be able to stall just enough so that he could work up the courage to talk about his own escape. He was hesitant to talk about it after the last time, but this was Matt. Matt wasn’t going to judge him or be mad at him for not escaping sooner. He had been in captivity too, Matt would understand.

“A Rebel Officer named Te-Osh saved me after she discovered I was from the same planet as the Paladins of Voltron.” Matt doesn’t seem to want to go into details either. Not that the Black Paladin blames him. He had no idea what Matt went through after he had gone to the medic bay. All he knew was that he hadn’t come back. “Now how did you escape?” Matt runs his fingers over Shiro’s nose scar with that soft look on his face.

“A Rebel Galra named Ulaz sent me back to Earth to retrieve the Blue Lion.” Shiro says eventually. He doesn’t linger on the thoughts of Ulaz, he doesn’t want to. Last time he had thought about Ulaz he had had nightmares for weeks and he very much wanted to avoid that right now. He had a lot of catching up to be done without the lingering threat of nightmares hanging over his head. He would have to prepare Matt for the possibility of them, but that could be done later.

“But you don’t fly that Lion.” Clearly Katie had told her brother a lot about Voltron on the ride back to the Castle Ship, and Shiro has never been more thankful for Katie’s tendency to overshare with Matt. It meant that the subject had changed and his anxiety over nightmares could settle for now.

“No, I fly the Black Lion. Allura flies the Blue Lion.” Shiro says as they sit up together, taking his time to brush Matt’s fringe out of the way. He wanted to see his face. He had missed it for over a year. There was a new scar, and his eyes looked harsher, but underneath it all he was still very much Matt.

“Can I see the Black Lion then?” He had known that question was coming the second he had mentioned the Lions, and honestly Shiro didn’t mind. He enjoyed watching Matt look at ships and tell him how it worked or could be upgraded. It fascinated him.

“Of course, don’t think you’re leaving my sight anytime soon.” Shiro smiles as they stand up, noting the slight difference in their height now. The other male just seems to grin at his thinly veiled threat and leans up to kiss him. It was everything Shiro had thought their reunion kiss would be like. It was soft and gentle, like they had all the time in the world to catch up.

“I wouldn’t want it any other way.” Matt responds as he reaches for Shiro’s hand and lets the Black Paladin lead him to the hangars. Both males making a silent vow to themselves that they wouldn’t be separated ever again. No matter what that took.


End file.
